Around five vehicles were involved in a motorway crash early on Monday morning that caused heavy traffic. 

The crash happened at just before 5.30am on the morning of Monday November 18 on the M61 southbound between junction 4 and junction 3.

Emergency services including the police and ambulance service were called to the scene and road users reported long delays.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said:  "We were called to a road traffic collision at around 5.28am.

"At the moment it looks like five vehicles involved and it looks to involve only minor injuries."

The crash happened close to the A666 in Bolton between junction 4, the Watergate Lane Interchange and junction 3, the Worsley Braided Interchange. 

No serious injuries were reported because of the crash but there were delays of up to 70 minutes caused along the motorway as the emergency services went about their work.

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Congestion was reported going all the way to Horwich through to Little Hulton as traffic was diverted. 

By shortly after 8am that same morning the stretch of motorway had reopened but National Highways North West warned that there were still delays of nearly an hour.

By around 9.40am traffic service Inrix reported that traffic had returned to normal.